[Propertalk] Fwd: [Goodsermons] Preaching - Luke 12:49-56

[Joe Parrish]

Free Resource: Preaching Luke 12:49-56
One sermon on the gospel lesson could focus on verses 49-53. When Jesus says that he came to bring a sword and not peace, and that family members will turn against one another because of him, a contemporary Christian is likely to think that picture is diametrically opposed to the way in which preachers usually depict Jesus. We usually picture Jesus as the embodiment of love, who wishes reconciliation in the human family.
The congregation's anxieties about this part of the text may be deep and existential. Many families today are troubled. Many parents and young people desperately long for their family lives to be better. Does Jesus encourage such tension? Indeed, is Jesus saying that he wants to cause such breakdowns?
The preacher needs to clarify the fact that in this text, Jesus is not speaking about family relationships in general, but about how members of families respond to the manifestation of the divine rule (NRSV: kingdom of God) through Jesus.1 In the first century, family members sometimes became alienated from one another when some in the family embraced the Jesus movement, but others did not. In Judaism, family ties are an essential part of identity (e.g., Ex 12:12; Deut 5:16; cf. Ex 21:15, 17; Lev 19:3; 20:9; Deut 21:18-21; 27:16; 32:16-21; Prov 19:26; 28:24). A first century person would assume that the breakdown of the family violates the will of God.
Jesus-or someone in the gospel tradition who put these sayings in Jesus' mouth-offers these words as pastoral care to explain why the family has broken apart and to assure Christians that they are still embraced in divine care. Earlier, Luke prepared the reader for this teaching by pointing out that in the new age, the traditional earthly family system will be replaced by a new network of relationships whose centerpiece is not blood kin, but the rule of God (Luke 8:19-22). In the Acts of the Apostles, the church functions much like a new household (e.g. Acts 2:43-46; 4:32-27; 5:12-16). Jesus does not want family members to be alienated, but when alienation results from response to the gospel, when alienation occurs, Jesus promises a community of support.
The gospel can divide members of households today. When it does, those who embrace the coming of the rule of God can be encouraged to know that they are part of another, universal family whose head is God. I quickly add the obvious. When Christians are rejected by other family members, Christians are obliged to continue to love, pray for, and actively support the other family members. It is simply inappropriate to the gospel to dismiss one's family members (or others) with an air of self-righteousness.
I do not have space to develop arguments supporting the following conviction. But I say candidly that I believe that the rule of God will ultimately result in the restoration of all relationships. In the meantime, Christians are called to witness to this cosmic reconciliation by doing all that we can to encourage reconciliation among all who are alienated in the human family, whether they are separated from one another because of response to the gospel, or for some other reason.
An irony. Sometimes, the people with whom we are closest (family members) are also people from whom we are most alienated. A further irony. We sometimes find it harder to approach family members than others when we need to work out problems. Regardless of these ironies, in many settings today, the Christian who sticks with the family, and tries to work through relational difficulties will often make a power ful witness to the gospel.
Another sermon might help the congregation think about what it can affirm concerning God's eschatological purposes and ways of working. The gospel lesson presumes that an apocalyptic cataclysm will end this old world and begin the new. Jewish apocalyptic literature in the Hellenistic age presumed that the end of the old world would be accompanied by the breakdown of the old social order during a period sometimes called the tribulation. The breakdown occurred as powers of the old age resisted the incoming of the new world. The breakdown of the family in the gospel lesson is a part of that tribulation. Following the tribulation, God would destroy the old world and inaugurate a new one.
In the so-called liberal protestant traditions, preachers seldom endorse the idea that this world is likely to end in a singular apocalyptic event initiated by Jesus. Such preachers are even less likely to think that a tribulation is coming. Further, preachers seldom speak in a clear, direct, and meaningful way about what Christians might-and might not-believe today concerning eschatology. The preacher might describe how the text represents the apocalyptic worldview, and then help the congregation describe and evaluate various understandings of eschatology that are available to the Christian community.
Verses 54-56 might inspire still another sermon. These verses stress the importance of being able to interpret the signs of the times. As noted just above, the immediate historical and literary context is apocalypticism. Luke wants the community to be able to recognize the fact that the events around them are pointing to the end of the world. While many in the church today do not subscribe to first century apocalypticism, the church today still needs to interpret the signs of the times in the sense of being able to interpret the world in terms of the gospel so that the Christian community can know how to make Christian sense of the world and make an optimum Christian witness that is suited to our times. Consequently, the preacher might develop a sermon on the need for such interpretation, and could guide the church in envisioning a method (and criteria) for interpreting God and the world today.
Ronald J. Allen
NOTE
1. For a full-length sermon on this approach, see Ronald J. Allen, "The Fire That Separates and Supports," in John C. Holbert and Ronald J. Allen, Holy Root, Holy Branches: Christian Preaching from the Old Testament (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1995), pp. 177-183.
 
Goodpreacher.com subscribers have access to over 60 articles (like the above) on the texts this week. These articles are not just exegetical articles but essays (and sermons) on the texts from theological, pastoral, arts, and homiletical perspectives. All for less than $1.00! 






GoodPreacher.com




-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://stsams.org/pipermail/propertalk_stsams.org/attachments/20100810/55e41a43/attachment.htm>